"Criminal" Chalking and free speech: Know your rights.

Last fall, as I was engaged in protracted debates with the Capitol Police and security crews about first amendment rights, chalking, and criminal damage, I found and posted some articles about this guy at UofA who was in an absurd amount of trouble for his own chalking activity in Tucson. I was looking into all that again (dusting off all my gear for an action), and I came across this great blog, Sally Gradstudent, that speaks more directly to the Arizona criminal codes in question in the case. Neat blog with good links - it takes on the UofA administration and rallies other students to do the same.

The chalking charges against Jacob Miller and his trusty comrade (someone who began chalking after his arrest in solidarity) were ultimately dropped by the university, by the way, but it doesn't sound like they would have stuck.

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SALLY GRADSTUDENT

Friday, September 25, 2009

Criminal?

Jacob Miller's arrest is all over the news, turning a peaceful protest into a vortex of media attention. Tucson Citizen's Renee Schafer Horton is trying to get an interview with the UAPD, KGUN9 and KVOA4 both reported on it last night (with interviews from Jacob Miller), the Daily Wildcat filled up most of the front page with a photo from the story. The Desert Lamp has done a great job listing several other chalking incidents on campus.

Not only is the arrest of a peaceful protester disgusting, it also does not seem to us to follow the letter of the law.

Consider the definitions:

"A. A person commits interference with or disruption of an educational institution by doing any of the following:

1. Intentionally, knowingly or recklessly interfering with or disrupting the normal operations of an educational institution by either:

(a) Threatening to cause physical injury to any employee or student of an educational institution or any person on the property of an educational institution.

(b) Threatening to cause damage to any educational institution, the property of any educational institution or the property of any employee or student of an educational institution.

2. Intentionally or knowingly entering or remaining on the property of any educational institution for the purpose of interfering with the lawful use of the property or in any manner as to deny or interfere with the lawful use of the property by others.

3. Intentionally or knowingly refusing to obey a lawful order given pursuant to subsection C of this section.

A. A person commits criminal damage by recklessly:

1. Defacing or damaging property of another person; or

2. Tampering with property of another person so as substantially to impair its function or value; or

3. Tampering with the property of a utility.

4. Parking any vehicle in such a manner as to deprive livestock of access to the only reasonably available water (???what's this doing here??? -Peg)

5. Drawing or inscribing a message, slogan, sign or symbol that is made on any public or private building, structure or surface, except the ground, and that is made without permission of the owner."

Any short walk around campus will reveal numerous chalk drawings, usually made by the sororities. And yet, the police do not interfere with their right to free speech.

This is a serious matter. If Jacob Miller is convicted of these alledged "crimes", he stands to have a criminal record for the rest of his life, as well as fines and possible jail time. The university could then be in a position to suspend or expel him. His court date is October 14th, and if the charges haven't been dropped by then, we should take our peaceful protest to the courthouse.

Check out http://www.arizonaforeducation.com/ for more updates on the case.

Renee Schafer Horton of the TC online raises some important questions about the cost estimate for removing the chalk, and thanks to a quick-thinking graduate student with a camera, we have some answers for her. No power washing was done; the chalk was removed (as we watched) in less than 20 minutes by a group of 3 janitors.

According to UAPD, they may be looking for evidence of even more chalking so that they can hand out new citations. This is from Renee Schafer Horton's blog: Sgt. Juan Alvarez of UAPD said "There were other people that help Mr. Miller, but we couldn’t identify them. If we are able to identify them, we could pursue charges."

Is it just us, or does this come off as "Watch your backs, protesters"?

We will not be intimidated.

Posted by Sally Gradstudent at 9:23 AM

Sidewalk Chalk Wildcat

This article addresses some of the issues I ran into at the Capitol this morning when they called the cops to stop me from chalking up the sidewalk...silliness. This attempt to suppress 1st Amendment rights begs to be challenged.

Anway, I'll post my blog and photos on all that shortly. I think we need more clarification about whether or not chalking sidewalks on public or state property constitutes criminal activity in Phoenix, so I'll keep researching this tonight and post with what more I find. I know I can be charged with pretty much anything, but drop me a line if anyone out there knows if you can really be convicted (criminal or civil) for using sidewalk chalk.

- Peg

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University of Arizona
Outrage at U. Arizona artist arrest intensifies
» September 28th
stateuniversity.com



Students upset by University of Arizona Police Department’s arrest of Jacob Miller, a 24-year-old graduate student who used sidewalk chalk to advertise a protest Thursday, have been speaking out on campus and online.

On Facebook.com, a group called Support Jacob Miller started Friday and had grown to 172 members by press time Sunday.

The group’s founder, Tom Shea, is a biochemistry junior who decided to start the group after reading about Miller’s arrest in the Arizona Daily Wildcat.

Shea, who doesn’t know Miller and couldn’t even find him on Facebook, said, “I was completely outraged by what I read in the article.”

Shea is trying to organize an online petition and a protest on Miller’s court date.

“(This arrest) can be compared to being arrested for playing hopscotch or finger-painting,” he said. “The entire idea behind chalk as a medium is that it does no damage and is easily removed. It’s not something akin to spray paint or graffiti—it’s quite the opposite.”

On the Daily Wildcat’s Web site, readers are also talking. Many were upset by the university’s initial claim that it cost $1,000 to clean the chalk from sidewalks and walls.

UA officials have since backed off their initial estimate.

Chris Kopach, associate director of facilities management said the actual figure is closer to $350.

Kopach said $1,000 was the initial approximate estimate, before he knew the writing was in chalk.

Anne Ranek, a graduate student and member of Arizona for Education, the group that organized Thursday’s protest, said she was excited by the amount of support Miller is getting from undergraduates who probably don’t know him.

Dave Talenfeld, president of the Graduate Professional Student Council, told the Wildcat the arrest was “very silly.”

Talenfeld said the anonymous faculty member who reported the chalk probably had a problem with the content, not the medium, of the message.

“I would not be surprised to learn that political considerations were involved,” he said.

UAPD spokesman Sgt. Juan Alvarez said he hasn’t received any comments about the case and declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.

Miller, at his lawyer’s request, declined to comment on the matter any further.

His lawyer, Cornelia Honchar, said she found it surprising that a student would be charged with criminal damage, because the crime “seems so banal.”

“He’s also charged with disrupting the operations of a university,” she said. “So we’ll see how a campus of 35,000 or 40,000 was interrupted by Jacob Miller drawing something on the student union sidewalk.”

Hank Dean Stephenson – Copyright © 2009 Arizona Daily Wildcat via UWire

Read more: Outrage at U. Arizona artist arrest intensifies - StateUniversity.com News http://www.stateuniversity.com/news_items/1676#ixzz0XMdHxD9S